The Case Of The Greedy Goblin
by Meatball
Summary: A story for readers of any age, this is the tale of an adventure that eight-year-old Severus Snape and James Potter have, while on vacation with their parents. This may become a series, please read & review...thanks, Meat!
1. Default Chapter

Title: Adventures of Young Severus Snape:  
The Case of the Greedy Goblin  
Author: Meatball  
Rating: G  
Archive: Feel free  
Disclaimer: Anything recognizable belongs to JKR, and I make not a knut from this.  
Summary: This is a young-reader-friendly story about an adventure that eight-year-old Severus Snape and James Potter have, while on vacation with their parents.   
  
  
  
  
  
Eight-year-old Severus Snape held his father's hand tightly, as they made their way through crowded Diagon Alley.  
  
"Eh, Sarah? Are ye sure ye know where yer goin', lass?"  
  
Sarah Snape looked back, and smiled at Jericho, her husband of twelve years. Her great, dark eyes lingered affectionately on her small son, Severus, who was looking around with huge, wonder-filled eyes.  
  
"Relax, Jerry. Spent ages here as a kid, I have." She reached out to take little Sev's other hand, and led the way to Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour And Trashy Muggle Novel Emporium.   
  
After their marriage, it had come as a shock to Jericho to find out that his wife was a witch. Not in any figurative sense, but a literal one.   
  
Oh, sure, he'd known that there were odd goings-on in Hogsmeade, a village near the town of Cail. Cail was where he'd lived all his life, and where he'd returned to after completing university in Edinburgh.  
  
Jericho Snape was the youngest of four boys. He was a tall, muscular man of thirty-seven, with long, light-brown hair, laughing hazel eyes, and a gentle, kind way with both animals and humans. Frightened or injured animals brought into his veterinary clinic in Cail invariably calmed down within moments, as he would pet them with his large, strong hands, and speak nonsense to them with that rich, melted-chocolate voice of his.  
  
Shortly after he had opened his clinic, he'd been travelling to Harbour Pass, on the far side of Hogsmeade, for a housecall, when his truck had broken down. It had been raining heavily, and his good nature was being sorely tested as he tried to change a flat tire on a side-road in Hogsmeade. It had been a wecome diversion, when a pretty young woman had emerged from one the shops with an umbrella, to give him a hand.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
An instant attraction had flared between the two young people, and within the year, Jericho Snape and Sarah Gardiner were married amongst a plethora of friends and family at Jericho's father's farm in Cail. It was a jolly day of good food, good friends, and the wine flowed freely. To be sure, some of Sarah's friends and family were a bit odd, wearing unusual long robes and pointed hats, and occasionally waving sticks around and chanting unusual words, but the easygoing Jericho found them all to be fairly agreeable, and if they had some strange ways about them, well, so what of it? His own family had a few odd ducks in it as well.  
  
It was on their wedding night, in a lovely stone cottage on the coast, when Sarah had told him of her deepest secret. Jericho had been amused at first, and frankly disbelieved her. But with a few waves of that magic wand of hers (curly maple, nine inches, quite bendy) and a few well-chosen spells, he had quickly become a believer. An amazed believer, but a believer.  
  
Over the years, he had become quite accustomed to her magical powers, and occasionally made use of her abilities in his own veterinary clinic. Soft-hearted like himself, she was more than happy to provide some discreet healing magic to the more seriously-wounded animals.  
  
When little Severus was just two years old, Jericho had been astonished and Sarah had been delighted to see that their little son had just as much magical ability as his mother. Sarah had set about teaching her young son as much as she was able to, to better prepare him for Hogwart's.  
  
Today, however, they were on holiday in London (Jericho was to attend a medical conference, and they had decided to turn it into a vacation), and Sarah had wanted to visit Diagon Alley. Jericho was looking forward to seeing the place he had heard so much about, and Severus was beside himself with excitement -- he was going to Ollivander's, to buy his first wand.  
  
"Mummy," he said, digging into an enormous ice-cream sundae, "Can I get a broomstick as well?"  
  
She grinned at him. "Not yet, Sev. Maybe when you're older."  
  
"I think I am old enough right now."   
  
"I can't imagine where you get that stubbornness from. Can you, Jericho?"  
  
"Nay, lass, can't imagine at all." He grinned at her, an expression of feigned innocence on his face. "T'isn't stubbornness, now, knowing one's own mind, is it, lad?" He winked down at his son, who grinned back.  
  
"We'll have to stop at Gringott's," Sarah said, ignoring the exchange. "I don't have enough wizard money on me for a good shopping trip, and most of these shops don't take muggle money."  
  
Severus was fairly squirming with excitement. He'd always wanted to see Gringott's, to see the goblins, and the dragons. As his parents stood to leave, Sarah cried, "Marston!"  
  
"Sarah! Sarah Gardiner, how have you been? You look terrific!" A tall, lanky man with somewhat untidy brown hair and warm brown eyes strode towards them. With him was a pretty blonde woman, and a little boy about Severus' age. The boy was the spitting image of his father, except he had twinkling blue eyes rather than brown.  
  
"Marston Potter!" Sarah hugged him happily. "I haven't seen you since we graduated! And who's this?" She smiled down at the little boy, who smiled back.  
  
"My son, Jamie. And this is my wife, Liane." Marston smiled, and indicated his family.  
  
"Pleased to meet both of you," said Sarah, warmly. "Mars...this is my husband, Jericho Snape. Jericho, Marston was one of my best friends at Hogwart's. We played Quidditch on the same house team, too."   
  
"A pleasure, Jericho." The two men shook hands.  
  
"Aye, a pleasure, Marston, an' call me Jerry."  
  
"And," continued Sarah, "This is my son, Severus. He's eight."  
  
"Same age as Jamie," smiled Marston. He seemed amused as he shook hands with the grave young boy. "You look just like your Mom, Severus."  
  
"Yes, sir."   
  
  
  
  
  
"Sarah, Jerry...we were just going to Rowling's for a coffee...care to join us?"  
  
"Love to. We've got a lot of catching up to do."  
  
~~~  
  
Hours later, the Snapes and the Potters were firm friends. It was established that they were both staying at the Leaky Cauldron, and would have dinner together.  
  
After a visit to Gringott's, which left the children (and Jericho) amazed, they retired for the night, with plans in place for the next day. The Potters were spending the day visiting local wizarding attractions, and they would bring young Severus with them, giving Sarah and Jericho a day to themselves before the medical conference began. Sarah would return the favour the day after that, by taking Jamie shopping with her and Severus. Well-fed and pleasantly tired-out, the yawning families wished each other a good night, and took themselves off to bed.  
  
~~~ 


	2. Chapter Two

Adventures of Young Severus Snape -- The Case of the Greedy Goblin  
Chapter Two  
  
  
"Oh, I think I'm gonna puke!" Giggling, Jamie leaned over top of a garbage bin, his face an unflattering shade of green.  
  
"It wasn't that bad, Jamie." Severus grinned slightly, and offered his friend a sip of Jinx's Soda. They had just gotten off The Witches' Hat, an exhilarating (and somewhat terrifying) ride at the Diagon Corner Amusement Park.   
  
"We're not all as calm, cool and collected as you are, Sev." Jamie's hands were still trembling slightly, but his colour was returning to normal, and he handed the soda back to his new friend after taking a long drink.  
  
They'd had a lot of fun that day, exploring the museum, the Magical Science Center, and the amusement park. Soon, however, they would be returning to the Leaky Cauldron for dinner, with both Jamie's parents and Severus's parents.  
  
"That was fun."   
  
Severus nodded his agreement, as they followed Mrs. Potter back to the Leaky Cauldron. He was a bit tired, but he had enjoyed himself thoroughly, and he liked his new friend. They'd been discussing the wizarding world and Hogwart's all day, and had decided that they would be best friends at Hogwart's when they arrived there. In the meantime, they had agreed to exchange letters by owl at least once a week. Severus was excited -- he had plenty of muggle playmates back in Cail, at the muggle school that he attended, but Jamie Potter was his first wizard friend, and he found that he was learning all sorts of new things through their friendship.  
  
~~~  
  
That night, after a long and jovial dinner, the Potters and the Snapes decided to stay downstairs for a while and have a few drinks. They sent their children up to bed. Severus and Jamie, however, didn't feel like sleeping, and decided to prowl the corridors.  
  
"If my dad catches me out of bed, though, he'll be pretty angry," Sev pointed out.  
  
Jamie couldn't picture the kind Mr. Snape angry, but nodded anyway. Suddenly inspiration struck him.  
  
"I have an idea!", he exclaimed. "But you have to promise never to tell anyone what I'm going to tell you."  
  
"Is it dangerous?"  
  
"No, no...it's just that my dad would be really mad, if he found out I was playing with this."  
  
"With what?" Severus was intrigued.  
  
"You have to promise."  
  
"Oh, alright, I promise," Sev snapped, impatiently. "I'm not a rat, you know."  
  
"Just making sure. Come on." They sneaked into the Potters' bedroom, where Jamie quietly tiptoed over to his father's wardrobe. "Check it out," he whispered, carefully withdrawing a long, silky-looking grey robe.  
  
Actually, thought Sev, it wasn't really grey. He peered closely at it. It was more a combination of every colour, all blended up to look like grey...."What is it?" he breathed, fascinated.  
  
"Watch." Jamie tossed it over his head, and Sev stared, dumfounded, as his friend just...disappeared...  
  
"It's an invisibility cloak." Jamie's voice was a bit tinny, as if he were speaking from far away. He pulled the cloak back from his head. "It's Dad's...he's an Auror, and it comes in handy sometimes."  
  
Severus knew what an Auror was, and felt a twinge of awe. Imagine a career chasing and capturing dark wizards! It sounded very exciting and adventurous.  
  
"Are you allowed to use his cloak?"  
  
"Of course not! That's why you have to promise not to ever tell anyone."  
  
"Promise, I promise, alright! I promise! So...what do we do with it?"  
  
"Get under it with me." Jamie held one side up, so Sev could crawl underneath. "See?"  
  
"Wow..." Severus looked down at himself, and saw...nothing. He was able to see through the cloak, however. It rendered the world a filmy blue-grey, making it look a bit unreal. He felt a rush of excitement. He could go anywhere...do anything...and no one would ever see him... He made up his mind. Someday he was going to buy one of these things for himself.  
  
"C'mon."  
  
"Where to?"   
  
"Let's explore," whispered Jamie, as he led them to the door.  
  
"Ok." Sev tried not to giggle, at the unreality of it all.  
  
Unseen, they prowled every hallway, every corridor, every nook and cranny that the Cauldron had to offer. Unfortunately, there wasn't very much going on in the Cauldron that night, but it was still interesting to watch their parents getting drunk downstairs, or to peek in on the old witch on the fourth floor picking at her warts. As they made their way back to their rooms, they heard an interesting noise.  
  
"What's that?"  
  
"Sounds like..." Severus listened intently. "...coins, perhaps? Someone's counting out their money?"  
  
"Yeah..." Jamie strained his ears, then smiled. "Look!"  
  
There was a knothole in the wall before them, and Severus leaned closer to peek in.  
  
Inside the room, there was a goblin, counting out piles and piles of galleons. Sev stared at him intently -- he was sure that he recognized him from somewhere...  
  
"Goldgrabber," he whispered to Jamie. "Remember? Goldgrabber! That really crabby goblin from Gringott's this morning! The one who was rude to your mom!"  
  
Jamie's eyes widened in recognition. "Oh, yeah!"  
  
"Look."  
  
Jamie peeked in the knothole, and he let out a small gasp. "Look at all those galleons!"  
  
"They must pay really well at Gringott's."  
  
"Do you really think so?" Jamie frowned thoughtfully. "I don't think they pay that well, and why would he bring his galleons here? Why wouldn't he have a vault at Gringott's?"  
  
"Maybe he hasn't deposited his money yet?"  
  
"Maybe...no...I don't think so." Jamie was lost in thought for a moment. Then he frowned again. "That doesn't make sense. But I wonder...d'you think he stole it?"  
  
"Stole from Gringott's?" Sev considered. "But that's supposed to be impossible, isn't it?"  
  
"Who could get past the goblins, though? Another goblin! Especially one that works there!" Jamie said, triumphantly. "I betcha he stole it!"  
  
"Well...fine. But what do you want to do? Tell your dad?"  
  
"Yes...well, no. Not without proof."  
  
"Couldn't your dad investigate?"  
  
"He could..." Jamie was lost in thought again. "Yeah, he could, but...so could we..."  
  
Sev wasn't sure he liked where this was taking them. "...well...I dunno..."  
  
"Think about it, Sev!" Jamie's eyes were shining with excitement. "Tomorrow, we'll tell your mom that we want to sleep in. Then we'll sneak out with the cloak, and go watch Goldgrabber till he steals something. Then we'll tell my dad. They'll have the thief, and we'll be heroes. Whaddya think?"  
  
Sev thought the whole thing sounded dangerous, but ... heroes? He liked the sound of that...  
  
"...ok..." he said. 


	3. Chapter Three

Adventures of Young Severus Snape -- The Case of the Greedy Goblin  
Chapter Three  
  
  
The next morning dawned bright and clear. Severus and Jamie snuck out of the Leaky Cauldron, concealed by the Invisibility Cloak.  
  
"I heard my parents talking this morning," whispered Jamie, as they made their way down the crowded Diagon Alley. "You'll never guess what they were talking about!"  
  
"No idea," whispered Sev. He was concentrating on trying to avoid people -- the cloak was a bit awkward to navigate in. It was fun, though.  
  
"There was a robbery at Gringott's yesterday."  
  
That made Severus stop dead in his tracks, and he turned to stare, open-mouthed, at Jamie.  
  
"You're joking..."  
  
"No, really! They have no idea who did it."  
  
The two boys shared a meaningful look. They were pretty sure that they knew who the culprit was, and they meant to prove it.  
  
~~~  
  
Soon, they found themselves outside of Gringott's.  
  
"So..." Jamie chewed his lip. "Uh...do we just...go in?"  
  
"I can't see why not." Severus looked around, secure under the invisibility cloak. "We'll just wait until someone goes in, and we'll sneak in after them...that way it won't look like the door has opened by itself." He grinned at Jamie. "Hopefully we won't get caught, and become the prime suspects of the robbery investigation."  
  
"I wasn't going to mention that." Jamie looked a bit pale, but Severus supposed it was due to the light-reflecting qualities of the cloak. Suddenly something caught his eye.  
  
"Hopping Muggles! Jamie! Look!"  
  
Jamie's eyes followed the direction that Severus was pointing, and he gasped, unable to believe their good fortune. Coming from Tim's Magically Good Coffee and Donut shop was Goldgrabber himself, holding a cup of coffee and a bag, presumably filled with pastry.  
  
"Goldgrabber!" Jamie hissed, eyes wide.   
  
Severus glanced back at Jamie, his black eyes sparkling. "Shall we?"  
  
Jamie giggled. "After you..."  
  
~~~  
  
Getting inside of Gringott's was no problem; they simply followed Goldgrabber, making sure that the edges of the cloak didn't catch in the revolving door. The boys were tense for a few moments, hoping that the bank didn't have some way of detecting invisibility cloaks. When they were reasonably sure that they wouldn't be detected, they then spent considerable effort avoiding the many creatures that made their way around the bank.  
  
Goldgrabber worked at his teller's stall, serving a couple of customers. Then, when there was no one at his counter, he turned the "closed" sign towards the window, and stood up, looking around furtively.  
  
"He's making a move," hissed Sev.  
  
"Let's follow him."  
  
Silently, the two boys carefully made their way after Goldgrabber, avoiding the other patrons. Soon, they were treading some kind of walkway suspended above the railtracks.  
  
"Look." Jamie nudged Sev, and pointed below them at a cart weaving its way along the tracks. Neither one of the boys noticed a coal-black dragon, slightly larger then themselves, lightly flutter down and land on the walkway behind them. After a moment, they continued their trek, not realizing that they were being followed.  
  
After what seemed like hours (but was really only a few minutes), Goldgrabber paused over top of a vault. They boys paused, with bated breath.  
  
  
  
  
He was surprisingly quick, and light-footed, as he leapt over the side of the walkway onto the top of the vault. Sev and Jamie watched, wide-eyed, as he muttered some phrases that they couldn't understand. Suddenly a large hole appeared in the top of the vault, and he nimbly lowered himself in.  
  
"Now what?" Jamie's eyes were wide, as he looked at his friend. "Should we follow him?"  
  
"Um...why don't we wait a bit, to see what he does?" Sev was beginning to be a little bit afraid now, as though perhaps they had gotten themselves in over their heads. It was on the tip of his tongue to suggest that they flee, when suddenly a huge black shape glided past, and looked directly at them.  
  
"Dragon!" Jamie recoiled in shock. "It's a dragon!"  
  
"And it SAW us!" Sev's heart was pounding. "Jamie, it saw us and didn't do anything!"  
  
Wide-eyed, the boys watched as the dragon flew through the small opening in the vault. Though they couldn't see what was going on inside, they could hear snarls and hisses and odd snippets of a language that they guessed was Goblinese. Suddenly there was bright flash, and a horrible scream of agony...and then Goldgrabber emerged from the vault, a heavy bag slung over his back. Inside, they could hear agonized wailing. Before he knew what he was doing, Severus pulled free of the cloak, and launched himself at the goblin.  
  
"What did you do!! What did you do to the dragon!! You monster!!"   
  
Surprised, Goldgrabber flung Severus off, and into the vault with the wounded animal. Jamie began to yell at the goblin, and was instantly stupified by a quick wave of Goldgrabber's wand.  
  
"That will teach you to stick your nose where it doesn't belong, brat." None too carefully, Goldgrabber dropped Jamie through the opening of the vault, and, with a quick muttered spell, resealed the top of it. "See you in about ten years, kiddies," he said, cackling evilly. He repositioned his heavy sack of galleons, and then he jumped back onto the walkway, making his way to freedom.  
  
~~~  
  
  
  
  
"En...ener..." Severus's hand was shaking so badly, he couldn't say the spell he was trying to use to restore Jamie to consciousness. It didn't help, the loud screaming of the badly-injured dragon behind him. Stifling a frightened sob, he tried again.  
  
"En...enervate!!" With a gasp of relief, he watched Jamie wake up. Then he turned, quickly, and pointed his wand at the dragon.  
  
Did he know enough to help the poor creature? Severus was a veterinarian's son, through and through, and the creature's pain was tearing him apart. His young face bore a determined expression...he would find a way, somehow. Praying that it was enough, he aimed his wand and yelled, "Restorio!!"  
  
"Sev, kill it!"  
  
"What?" He couldn't believe what he had heard.  
  
"Sev, it'll just kill us, if you make it healthy again!" Jamie's face was pale with terror. "It'll burn us alive!"  
  
Quaking with fear, Severus looked back at the now-calm, if somewhat dazed, dragon. It appeared to be mostly healed, just exhausted. Cautiously, he approached it. It just looked back at him out of faded scarlet eyes.  
  
"Are you ok?" He whispered, laying a small hand on the injured flank. The dragon didn't move. "If I heal you, will you just kill us?" He was torn -- never had he felt such indecision. For he didn't have it in him, to injure another living being.   
  
After a long moment, the dragon rolled its large head over, and licked Severus's hand. Its tongue felt...odd, actually. Stinging? But Severus knew that the dragon wouldn't hurt him. Aiming his wand again, he repeated, "Restorio!" and this time, it worked completely.  
  
"Nooooooo..." Jamie was pale and shaking.  
  
"It's ok, Jamie...it's ok..."  
  
"You don't know that."  
  
"Yes, I do." He grinned at his friend. "If there's one thing I do know, it's animals. He won't hurt us. Right, Flamey?" Severus held his hand out, and the dragon lowered its head to be petted.  
  
"Flamey?"  
  
"Sounds like a good name for a dragon, doesn't it?"  
  
Jamie looked at him as though he'd gone mad.   
  
The next instant, Flamey spread one giant wing, as if to push the boys back towards the wall. A bit nervously, they complied.   
  
"I wonder what...OH!" Flamey suddenly raised himself up to his full, impressive height, and roared mightily, with searing flames shooting from his nostrils. The roof of the vault exploded.  
  
"Wow!!"   
  
"Awesome!!"  
  
Suddenly, Flamey crouched down, his forelegs bent, and looked at the two boys expectantly.  
  
"Sev?"  
  
"Yeah?"   
  
"What are you doing?"  
  
Severus looked at his friend, from where he had climbed up onto the dragon's back. "Sitting on Flamey."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"Cuz he wants us to?"  
  
A moment; then, with a sigh, Jamie grabbed the invisibility cloak, and climbed on behind Severus. "I can't believe I'm doing this."  
  
Severus grinned hugely. "I know! This is so cool! Whoa...."  
  
A second later, they were airborne, buffeted about by Flamey's enormous wings.  
  
~~~  
  
  
  
  
"Look!" Jamie pointed. "We're heading right for the lobby!"  
  
"And look!!" Severus couldn't believe their luck. "Goldgrabber went right back to his desk! Now THAT'S guts!!"  
  
They caused quite a commotion, as Flamey skidded to a halt on the polished marble floors. Within seconds, they were surrounded by Gringott's Security. In the rush, Jamie saw Goldgrabber sneaking away.  
  
"Goldgrabber!!", he shouted. "Stop that goblin!! He's the thief! He's getting away!!!"  
  
Security wasted no time in apprehending the goblin. As he stood there, his strong arms handcuffed behind his back, Jamie and Severus told their story. Security searched his desk, and found the bag of galleons.  
  
"So then Flamey flew us here, and you know the rest."   
  
"Well, Goldgrabber, I'd say your bank-robbing days are over," snarled a burly goblin security guard.  
  
"Yeah, and I would have gotten away with it, too, if it weren't for those pesky little wizards." Still grumbling, Goldgrabber was led away by the Gringott's Security Force. Just at that moment, Jamie's and Severus's parents showed up.  
  
"We've just heard," said Sarah, shocked. "Is it true? Were you REALLY chasing a thief all by yourselves? Have you children no sense?"  
  
"And is that my invisibility cloak, James?"  
  
But it was the usually-amiable Mr. Snape who glowered the most. "Ne'er you mind that now, kiddies. Let's go. Ye can tell us th' whole story....an' I mean the WHOLE story...back at the Cauldron. Ye'll have plenty o'time, too, since yer both grounded. Now. Let's go." Grabbing both of the protesting boys by their collars, he hauled them both away. "An' let's see how much meddlin' ye'll be doin', after a few days o' washin' dishes in the kitchen. Chasin' thieves, my foot!!"  
  
"Hey...I thought we'd be heroes..." Severus muttered aside to Jamie.  
  
"Don't worry," Jamie grinned. "I know a few ways to sneak out.."  
  
Severus groaned.  
~~~ 


End file.
